Takeo Akiba, Secretary of the National Security Council of Japan, and Jake Sullivan, National Security Adviser to the President of the United States, discussed by phone the situation in Russia in the context of the events around the Wagner group on Sunday.
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The parties confirmed their intention to remain in close cooperation. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida also listened on Sunday to a report by the leadership of the Japanese Foreign Ministry on the situation in Russia.
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On Saturday night in Rostov-on-Don, the headquarters of the Southern Military District was captured by the Wagner PMC. Groups of armed people moved around the city, checkpoints were set up at the entrances and exits. This happened against the backdrop of statements by Yevgeny Prigozhin about allegedly inflicted by the Russian Armed Forces missile and bomb attacks on the camps of PMC “Wagner” – this was refuted by both the Ministry of Defense and the FSB. A criminal case was opened against Prigozhin for organizing an armed rebellion.
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Later, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, in agreement with the President of the Russian Federation, held talks with Prigozhin, after which Lukashenko’s press service reported that the head of the PMC accepted his proposal to stop the Wagner movement in Russia and take further steps to de-escalate.
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Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov said on Saturday evening that Prigozhin would leave for Belarus, and the criminal case would be dropped. The Kremlin, in turn, said that the guarantee that Prigozhin would be able to leave for Belarus was the word of the President of Russia.
